NBA warns basketball fans of data breach; Names and email addresses stolen in third-party data heist

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has disclosed a data breach impacting the personal information of an unknown number of basketball fans.

According to a data breach notice, the incident stemmed from a security breach at an unnamed third-party newsletter service. Potentially stolen data includes the names and email addresses of NBA fans.

"We recently became aware that an unauthorized third party gained access to, and obtained a copy of, your name and email address, which was held by a third-party service provider that helps us communicate via email with fans who have shared this information with the NBA," the multi-national sports and media corporation explained.

The NBA said no highly sensitive data, such as passwords, was stolen in the incident.

"There is no indication that our systems, your username, password, or any other information you have shared with us have been impacted," the NBA added.

The exact scope and extent of the breach are unknown, and since no high-risk data such as SSN’s or financial info was shared with the newsletter service, the NBA is not legally obliged to supply additional details.

The organization said it will continue to investigate the cybersecurity event to properly asses its impact.

“There is no impact whatsoever to the NBA's systems or to the assets held securely at the NBA,” the organization told BleepingComputer. “The league immediately took action to contain the issue, identify those impacted and communicate potential risks and next steps."

NBA fans have been urged to watch out for suspicious correspondence related to NBA topics. This includes social engineering schemes that may use supporter names and email addresses to conduct targeted phishing attacks.

"Given the nature of the information, there may be heightened risk of you receiving 'phishing' emails from email accounts appearing to be affiliated with the NBA, or of being targeted by other so-called 'social engineering' attacks (where an individual seeks to trick the target into sharing confidential information or otherwise taking actions contrary to his or her own interest," the NBA said.

NBA fans were also reminded that the organization will never request sensitive information such as passwords, usernames or credit card data via email and that they should never access unsolicited email attachments.

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